COUNTRIES, like items in the supermarket, sell better with clever advertising. So Israel, long frustrated by its image as a country tarnished by danger and strife, wants to rebrand itself —as hip, cool, cultured, fun and creative.

The initiative comes from Israeli diplomats and Jewish groups in America, whose research shows that even though Israel enjoys strong political support from Americans, its image is far too lean and mean. Asked to describe “Israel house”, one focus group imagined it as arid, all-male and surrounded by barbed wire. The concepts that first spring to mind in polls are conflict, desert and religious extremism. “We want people to know other things about us,” says a top Israeli involved in the scheme. “About our computer chips and health-care innovations.”

Asked by researchers how they see themselves, Israelis have come up with three themes: ingenuity, passion and fusion—the melding of disparate communities and cultures. A main goal is to deflect attention from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “We don’t want to ignore it but to contain it,” says a brand-minded Israeli. “There are 800 foreign correspondents here, all focused on the conflict. We would like them to zoom out and look at other things too. Branding is about the real Israel.” It may be a hard sell.

Israel has already branded itself as a hardline state, as harsh and authoritative as any third world country. After decades of unmeasured responses to attacks and creating a refugee crisis, I doubt that clever commercials and strong-arm fundraising from AIPAC can make us associate Israel with "science, music, and archaeology," rather than apartheid, terror, and war. Perhaps in the new age of "extreme tourism" Fatah or Hamas could launch an add campaign: "come see the shacks and caves we live in across from the five star accommodations of trigger happy settlers! Drive an hour to get ten miles with us while we look at the highways we can't use! Get strip-searched at checkpoints us!" Not that Israel will let westerners into these areas, but that's a vacation I would want to take!

Hey, Israel, here's a pic you can use in your propaganda campaign. This ought to get the tourists flocking to your little bit of Hell on the Mediterranean.

The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition is part of Israel’s effort to re-brand itself. The campaign has included placing sexually suggestive advertisements in Maxim and other men’s magazines.

Zionists are almost pitiable, for they are so ashamed of their own history that they have usurped one belonging to another people. When the Israeli government sends the Dead Sea Scrolls to Canada, by its own law Canada must turn them over to their rightful owners ~ the Palestinian people.

Israel can spend tons of Uncle Sam welfare money and try to re-shape its image, but the world is starting to catch on that Israel is a nation built upon lies, thefts, deceptions and mass murder. Despicable acts that Isarel still uses today to cement its hold on the stolen land of Occupied Palestine.